What a mouthful of daring assertion! A mouthful uttered over and over in the text. To be sure, Israel always knows that its most profound claims are at the same time inescapably and deeply problematic. • Creation bespeaks abundance, but the creation texts live close to issues of idolatry, whether the world in some way and to some extent is governed by powers that are not generous. • Consummation bespeaks fidelity, but the text is haunted by a defining sense of absence in which the allegedly faithful